Canadiens vs. Sabres Free Pick October 5, 2017

The Buffalo Sabres will start the new season by hosting Atlantic Division rival Montreal Canadiens at KeyBank Center Thursday night. I like the price we get on the Sabres in this contest.

Buffalo is led by third-year center Jack Eichel who signed an NHL-maximum eight-year, $80 million contract on Tuesday. Note that he led the Sabres in scoring last year, despite missing the first 21 games of the season due to injury and he’ll be looking to show the home town crowd he’s worth the new contract. The Sabres have a new head coach in Phil Housley, who was the assistant coach for the Nashville Predators last year, hopefully bringing some fresh ideas.

Montreal is the defending Atlantic Division champion and has one of the best netminders in the game in Carey Price. We can however note that Price is just 14-12-8 in previous meetings with the Sabres. These teams split their four meetings last year, so the Sabres know how to beat the Habs and Price.

My free pick is on Buffalo Sabres.

Mike Lundin has TWO BIG BETS going Thursday, starting with his MLB GAME OF THE WEEK featuring Boston vs. Houston in the ALDS followed by his CFB GAME OF THE WEEK featuring Louisville vs. NC State. Sign up for a subscription now to make sure you don’t miss a single play.